When she knew God
wanted to offer a bit more to life
The Journey of Stephanie Hannah
owner of The 5ive Spot
By: Mercedez McIntyre
This June will make 4 years that
Stephanie Hannah has owned “The
5ive Spot” located in Randallstown,
MD; 15 minutes outside of Baltimore
City. Sitting across from Hannah she
reminisced on her days working in
corporate America putting in hard
work and long hours only to leave
every day knowing that there had
to be more. For years she spent her
evenings as a patron in the same es-
tablishment she owns today. Drawn
to an atmosphere where people of all
races and classes could come after
work; leaving relaxed, well fed, and
with great conversation. When the
opportunity was presented for Steph-
anie to continue the tradition of the
establishment being black owned
she knew this was her chance to take
a step out on faith and ambition. She
spent her life working hard for others.
Stephanie put pride and honor into
being a great employee at business-
es where she was in high leadership
positions dealing with the stress of
creating dreams for others. Lead by
something stronger in her spirit to
provide the exact atmosphere most
desire...one of community, that ha s
now become a past time in a genera-
tion of technology.
Her next step was the part that is
hardest for most entrepreneurs in
any field, and that was to build a
20
team aligned with the same fabric
of work ethic. Walked in one of her
first current manager Sherene Rene.
Sherene brought with her a back-
ground in marketing, sales, and bank-
ing experience. Not to mention she
served in the US Army bringing lead-
ership skills that you can easily see
with her calm demeanor no matter
the atmosphere.
Initially, the establishment was a
neighborhood bar. Stephanie de-
cided to transform it as well into
a restaurant which was no easy
task but well worth it if we do say so
ourselves. Urban Freedom Magazine
held a “Young, Gifted & Black Brunch”
at The 5ive Spot this March with every
patron remarking how amazing the
food was. From Cajun Shrimp and
Grits to Classic Southern Buttermilk
Chicken and Waffles with a live Jazz
Band as a special treat. It was truly
our pleasure to see an owner be so
hands on during the process. Like any
process of elevation or anything new,
there can be bumps in the road but
Stephanie and Shelese handle them-
selves with a stature of strength as if
you were a guest in their own home.
These two began working on The 5ive
Spot at its most vulnerable state...the
bottom. From learning how to work
register systems for the first time, and
advertising to letting people know
they were open and ready. The 5ive
Spot was far from walk in ready when
Stephanie Hannah took over. In fact,
Manger Shelese recalled walking into
her interview seeing Stephanie with a
construction face mask hard at work
to get the venue prepared to be all
she envisioned it to be. They had a
look of joy just taking a moment to
truly remember where they began.
Often most entrepreneurs work so
hard to the future it is rare we take
the time to truly sit down and just
thank God for where we are. Going
down memory lane seemed to make
both of their souls shine when asked
how they see the future, simply be-
cause things have turned out better
than they have both expected start-
ing day one.
This lead to our next focus of how
does one handle an establishment
that can cater to a classic brunch
to weekend nightlife. Maintaining
a restaurant is a scale of its own to
manage day to day along with adding
dubbing as a late night venue. Espe-
cially in a city where many nightlife
establishments have had to deal with
violence a time or two. With a record
of no violent crimes in her 4 years of
ownership, I wondered what type of
rules would have to be implemented.
Stephanie stated she takes an amount